


Binary

by Ganger (Aiffe)



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Feminist Themes, Gen, Gen Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-11
Updated: 2011-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-07 21:17:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aiffe/pseuds/Ganger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Human computer' was never really a compliment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Binary

**Author's Note:**

> For [who-contest](http://who-contest.livejournal.com/) on LJ. Theme was "Balance."
> 
> Jamie’s dialect posed a challenge for me, as I absolutely did not want to write an [eye dialect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_dialect), but also did not want to erase his culture, especially since in the time he was from, the English [were trying to do exactly that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Culloden#Repercussions_and_persecution). Further complicating it is that as a Highlander, he would have spoken Gàidhlig (Scots Gaelic), or Highland English, which is…not what is used on the show, grammatically. And he wouldn’t speak [Scots leid](http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_leid) because that’s the language of the Lowlands. So I’ve sort of made a mashup of Scottish Standard English and Scots leid, which is about as accurate as what they use in the show, anyway. The alternate spellings, where used, are not made up by me, but are actual Scottish spellings, every bit as legitimate as the standardized English ones. ~Research!~
> 
> It isn’t perfect, but I tried. Also, it’s hilarious to me that this note is probably as long as the fic itself, which, by the way, _isn’t even about him_.

Zoe rustled around in the unconscious Doctor’s deceptively large pockets, finally emerging triumphant with a pen-like device with a ring on the end.  
  
“The Doctor’s screwdriver?” Jamie asked, shaking his head. “I daena think you can unscrew our way oot o this.”  
  
“It’s not just a screwdriver,” Zoe said. “It’s _sonic_.” She made short work of the plate holding the prison lock in place, and scrutinized the mess of circuits underneath. “I don’t think even the Doctor knows how useful this thing could be,” Zoe said, setting to work.  
  
Jamie watched her for several minutes, and began to pace around restlessly. “You daen tryin tae unscrew that whigmaleerie yet?”  
  
“I’m not unscrewing it, I’m…talking to it,” Zoe explained. “Look, all computers work on binary, right? It’s a base-two number system. It goes zero, one, one zero, one one…do you see?”  
  
“Ay,” Jamie said, not quite convincingly.  
  
“Well, every language ever spoken by computers is based on that. And inside this circuit board are diodes that can have energy flow through them either forwards or backwards: on/off, just like the zeroes and ones in binary, do you see? I can use the Doctor’s screwdriver to spell out something in the computer’s own language. Do you understand?”  
  
“Ay, I unnerstaund, one computer can talk to anither. You’re aw a lot o numbers yoursel, ‘diodes’ whaur your heart shoud be.”  
  
Zoe froze. She knew Jamie was worried about the Doctor, and that he must have felt condescended to, but he’d managed to poke a very deep wound. “I know what this is. You don’t say things like that about the Doctor, and he’s almost as clever as I am,” Zoe said. “I don’t fit the mold of what you think a woman should be.”  
  
“Weel…ay,” Jamie agreed, somewhat reluctantly.  
  
“All my life, people have told me I’d have to balance being as clever as a computer with being a woman who has feelings about things and a social life, but you know, it isn’t true. There was never anything to balance, because they’re not like ones and zeroes, you don’t have to be one or the other. I’m a woman, I’m an astrometricist and astrophysicist, I’m fluent in twenty-three computer languages, and you’re a man in a skirt, so I think we may both have to adjust our expectations slightly.” With that, the door popped open, and Jamie’s mouth shut. _Victory._


End file.
